BRADENTON BEACH - Virginia Neill sunk $15,000 into storm shutters for her Bradenton Beach home a few years ago, thinking she'd be eligible each year for a discounted rate on her homeowners insurance.

Instead, Neill was recently notified that her homeowners policy is being canceled.

"I'm supposed to get an insurance discount doing that, I wasn't supposed to be dropped," Neill said. "It's ridiculous. I just wish the insurance companies would understand that there are people behind their decisions."

Neill, no relation to this writer, contacted her local insurance agent, who suggested she get a home inspection and provide the results to her insurance carrier, Sunshine State Insurance Co.

Despite the inspection report indicating her concrete-block home had no deficiencies, Neill said Sunshine State told her she must replace her roof - and even that wouldn't guarantee her a renewed policy.

"They want me to put a new roof on my home to have insurance," Neill said. "I can't afford to do that - not after just spending, three years ago, $15,000 on storm shutters. I would have chosen the roof over the shutters had I known they were going to do this to me. But I was told that shutters would help me keep my insurance."

Mechlin Moore, spokesman for Sunshine State, said the decision to not renew Neill's policy boiled down to simple numbers.

The company no longer accepts new applications on houses more than 50 years old and Sunshine State's records indicate Neill's home was built in 1955, Mechlin said.

For homes older than 50 years, Mechlin said the roof, heating, electrical and plumbing has to have been updated within the past 10 years in order for the policy to be renewed.

Sunshine State's records showed that Neill's roof had not been replaced since 1995, therefore her policy was not renewed, Mechlin said.

The case illustrates the confusion surrounding a push in the state to strengthen homes against storms.

"Home-hardening" and "wind-protection retrofitting" are terms that have been bandied about lately as a solution to mounting damage claims in the state following the past two storm years.

This year, the Florida Legislature approved $250 million for a home-hardening program called My Safe Florida Home. The program provides free home inspections for those interested in strengthening their residences against hurricanes.

Contingent upon a completed inspection, My Safe Florida Home also provides up to a $5,000 matching grant to each homeowner for adding things like storm shutters, garage door reinforcements and other strengthening devices.

But the program is currently in its pilot phase and limited to residents of Miami-Dade, Broward and Lee counties, said Jeff Takacs, spokesman with the Florida Department of Financial Services, which implements My Safe Florida Home.

Takacs said there was no timeframe for the program to begin offering inspections in Manatee or Sarasota counties but residents are welcome to pre-apply.

The program was launched Aug. 15, and no Floridian has yet received a matching grant and been able to complete retrofitting work, Takacs said.

State Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, whose office Neill contacted, believes her frustration is justified.

"I think she has a right to be upset," Galvano said. "As I understand it, her home is in good shape. It's fortified, she doesn't need a roof or anything like that. She got an inspection, shared it with her insurance provider and was canceled. It's just another example of why we need to act legislatively to fix this continuing program."

Galvano said My Safe Florida Home is an important step to solving the state's insurance crisis but it isn't the solution.

"That's not a solution to our insurance woes," Galvano said. "We have to restructure the way this state regulates insurance and the way we participate in property insurance through the catastrophe fund."

Galvano suggested that the state's catastrophe fund be used to offset the cost of reinsurance, which is insurance for insurance carriers.

That would encourage more private companies to enter or stay in the market, Galvano suggested.

"We need to move away from the path we've been on where you have the state just being another insurer in the market," Galvano said.

A component of the legislation that created the My Safe Florida Home program also calls on insurance carriers to provide discounts to homeowners who strengthen their homes against storms.

But that provision has caused consternation among some homeowners who have gotten far less than they expected in terms of premium breaks for their improvements.

John Laurie, a local insurance agent who serves on the Technical Advisory Council to the governor's Property and Casualty Insurance Reform Committee, recently pointed out such disparities to fellow board members.

"Hopefully, we're moving toward standardized discount rates," Laurie said. "Because right now, they (discounts) vary from zero to 45 percent. That's a pretty wide range."

Laurie said he believes regulators and legislators are also moving toward better disclosure of discount rates on the parts of insurance carriers.

Conversely, insurance carriers have said that they don't expect to have to bear the burden for homeowners that don't strengthen their homes, Laurie said.

"The carriers have testified that they are more than willing to give discounts for mitigation efforts," Laurie said. "But that means they need to get a higher base rate for those that don't."

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BRIAN NEILL
Herald Staff Writer

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